Pennsylvania Voter ID

Choose where to vote

Vote here or back home?

You may choose to vote either in Swarthmore, PA, or your home town - but not both. Before choosing Swarthmore, consider if you might ever need to prove consistent residency "intent." Intent is best demonstrated by keeping all your legal addresses, including those for voting, driver's license, etc., together as one for several years. Reasons to prove intent include eligibility for in-state graduate school tuition in your home state, or for taxation reasons if you own stocks and bonds or receive income from a trust, or from other investments. Otherwise, you can choose to have different legal addresses for different purposes, and most states, including Pennsylvania, do not prohibit you from having different legal addresses for driver's license and for voting, so long as you have only one for each.

To vote back home or by Absentee Ballot, follow the local voting rules for your home town or county. Ask for help from your city hall, or from your county court house. Much absentee ballot information is online, do a web search on your state and "absentee ballot". Find and read the information your state publishes on the subject. Pennsylvania Absentee ballot information is available online.

If "back home" is in PA, but is not Swarthmore...

If you want to vote back home elsewhere in PA, use absentee ballot procedure, and if you need to (re)register there, you can use your PA drivers license on the voter registration form.

If you want to vote in Swarthmore, use your dorm address on the voter registration form, and do not use your PA drivers license which says you live elsewhere.

Absentee Ballot Request deadlines vary from state to state and sometimes county by county. Check with your municipality.

Registration deadlines vary from state to state, but the norm is 30 days prior to the election.

It is illegal to vote in two or more districts. If you wish to vote in Swarthmore but have already registered in another municipality, register here and then write the other election bureau to inform them of your change.

Voting in Swarthmore

Must-do tips for new and returning registrants, on completing the web form.

For NEW registrants, or if you CHANGED dorms or moved, complete the form following these tips:

In "Address of residence," if you live in College housing, for "street address" put your Residence Hall name (without room number), unless you live in Strath Haven, in which case you must use: “801 Yale Avenue" (don’t include your room number).

The “County” is Delaware and the “Municipality” is Swarthmore Borough.

In “Mailing address” put “500 College Avenue; Swarthmore; PA; 19081” if you live in College housing.

In the box "Address of Previous Registration" complete this if you are updating a PA registration, but if you are new to PA, leave these boxes blank.

In the box "Voter Identification Number" just leave this blank unless you know it. It is optional.

Signature: After hitting "submit" on the second page of the application, you will be prompted to provide a signature. If you don't have a PA drivers license, you can upload a phone photo of your signature (sign a piece of paper) edited so the signature fills the photo with just a little margin. Do NOT use a phone photo of another state's driver's license. Alternative to all this is print out the application and sign it and mail it in.

Voter registration mailer sent to you: First time or changing registrants receive a mailer card confirming their registration, address and voting place. It may take about 14 days to get the mailer. Getting the mailer also indicates that you are actually enrolled to vote at the voting place for that precinct. If you don't get a confirmation mailer card after 14 days of registration, or if you have another question specific to your attempt to register, please call the Delaware County Voter Registration Office at 610-891-4659. You can also check your voter registration status online to see if your registration is in the system.

Voting Day

Vote at the correct voting place (see below)

Polls open 7:00am to 8:00pm. Lines are possible. Be patient. Lines are likely especially at times before and after traditional office hours, or around noon, when office workers come to vote. If you are on line prior to 8:00pm you will be allowed to vote. Do not expect to vote if you arrive at the polling place after 8:00pm.

You can walk to the voting places. Vans may be running on election day, but all the voting locations are within easy walking distance from the College or from your residence hall. The Northern precinct is a 10 minute walk from Parrish; the Western precinct is a 20 minute walk from Parrish.

Bring your college ID: It is recommended that you bring your college ID. It could help resolve issues at the polls.

Dress code: Many folks recommend you NOT wear printed messages on clothing (like a tee shirt or hat with political advertising) when you go to the voting place. Printed messages on clothing may or may not be technically legal (see PA "electioneering" laws), but wearing such clothing might also attract unwanted attention and slow you down.

Voter intimidation or challenge - be prepared: In years past, some Swarthmore students were challenged by other voters who questioned the authenticity of the students' Pennsylvania residence or registration. College students are indeed permitted to register to vote based on their residence at school (assuming they otherwise qualify to vote). In general, if anyone makes you feel uncomfortable about coming to vote, ignore them, or, if you wish, report them to an Election Judge. All voting places have non-partisan Election Judges who understand the rules and can defend your right to vote. In some cases, there may be a delay if the election judge needs to work through the Pennsylvania "challenge rules" process -- in these cases, expect to provide valid Pennsylvania voter ID, such as the mailer card and/or your College ID, and otherwise cooperate with the election judge.

Just in case: The Provisional ballot. If you go to the voting place for which you are certain you are registered, but you are not on their list of registered voters, ask an official there for help. If no record of your registration can be found on that day, you should ask to vote a "provisional ballot", which you will be allowed to do at that voting place. Provisional ballots permit the county to research your registration. If your valid registration is found, your ballot will be counted. If no valid registration is found, your provisional ballot will NOT be counted and you will be informed by letter.

Where to vote in Swarthmore:

Northern Precinct: Students who have registered to vote as residents of Dana, Danawell, Hallowell, Lodges, Mertz, Alice Paul, David Kemp, Parrish, Wharton, Willets, Whittier, Woolman, and Worth, and off-campus housing north of the tracks, vote in the Northern Precinct, at the Swarthmore-Rutledge Elementary School (SRS) at 100 College Ave, Swarthmore. SRS is down the hill of College Ave, cross at the light and on down past the athletic fields on the right. This is a 5-10 minute walk from Parrish.

Western Precinct: Students who have registered to vote as residents of MaryLyon, Palmer, Pittenger, Roberts, and 801 Yale Ave. (StrathHaven), and off campus housing south of the tracks and mostly west of Route 320, vote in the Western Precinct, at the CADES building, also known as the Cerebral Palsey Assoc of Del Co Building at 401 Rutger's Ave in Swarthmore. From campus, go down Rutgers Ave (starts next to the PNC Bank) crossing Harvard and then Yale, then up the next block and see the CADES building, on your left. This is a 15-20 minute walk from Parrish, and a 10-15 minute walk from Mary Lyon.

Eastern Precinct: Students who have registered to vote as residents in off-campus housing south of the tracks and mostly east of 320, vote in the Eastern precinct at Borough Hall. This is in the same building as holds the Swarthmore Public Library, in the ville on Park Ave.

How to UN-register when you move on

Send a letter to Delaware County saying you have moved out of the state (or moved out of the county), and ask that you be removed from the registry of Delaware County voters. This will remove you from the voter registry, which is also the list from which jurors are sent jury duty letters.